Due to popular demand (and with special thanks to urban archaeologist extraordinaire, Sabu the Coconut Boy, for the gentle kick in the pants to do it), we're happy to announce a fresh round of Savage Renewal! For those who don't remember the idea behind Savage Renewal, here's Hanford's original announcement about it from a while back:

We have kicked around some ideas for different takes on Savage Renewal projects, and we'll (hopefully) be a bit better about running them more frequently, but the time we're going to do a repeat of Savage Renewal: Archaeology, which was immensely popular. You can check out just some of the fantastic posts that people made by doing a search on "Savage Renewal".

It'll work the same as last time:

Instructions for Savage Renewal: ArchaeologyFor one week, starting Wednesday, each day we'll ask another batch of TCers to post something special -- by the end of the week, every TCer will have been asked to join Savage Renewal: Archaeology. Your day is based on your username, but if that day doesn't work for you (you'll be busy that day, you didn't see this until your day had passed, you have a fear of Tuesdays, whatever), no sweat, do it on the day that works best for you. We just want to give a little incentive to spread the posts out a bit.

First, pick something specific, and from midcentury Polynesian Pop. Look through your collection, and find an item that intrigues you. Maybe it's something you want to know a little more about, maybe it's just something you like a lot and want to share. Not a collector? Pick a tropical cocktail, album, an old restaurant. Pick something you saw in the Book of Tiki, or in Tiki Road Trip, or Tiki Quest.

Now, take that item, and do a search on Tiki Central to see if it's been discussed before. If it has -- don't pick a different item! Find an old thread, and post on it. If you learned something new by looking at that old thread, it's probably something that other people would learn from, too -- so let's bring it back to the surface. Add whatever you know, or your thoughts on what others have discussed, or questions that haven't been addressed. If it hasn't been discussed on Tiki Central before, start a new thread. Tell us what you know, invite others to chime in with what they know.

Try to pick something specific, and try to pick something that hearkens back to Tiki's midcentury roots.Posts that are about more modern Polynesian Pop, or general topics, like covering an entire artist, or about a whole class of collectibles, or asking a philosophical question, are definitely worthwhile -- please don't hesitate to continue posting those! They just fall outside the scope of Savage Renewal: Archaeology.

What if you really, honestly can't think of something you'd like to post? What if you're new?Think you don't have anything to contribute? Pish tosh! If you were interested enough in tiki to find Tiki Central, then you can participate in Savage Renewal: Archaeology. Look through old posts, pick a random page way back in a section and start reading -- if you find something that is of interest to you, it'll be of interest to someone else, too. Bring it back up to the surface by sharing your questions, or your thoughts.

Your participation in Savage Renewal: Archaeology doesn't stop with kick-starting discussion about tiki.Be ready to see these new Savage Renewal posts, and participate in them. If you've got knowledge, share it. If you've got ideas on where to turn for more information, share them. Please lend special care and attention to those posts by people who are burgeoning tikiphiles!

That was mostly my fault. I wanted to get a new round of Savage Renewal kicked off as soon as possible but forgot at first that we were coming up against Tiki Oasis next weekend, when a lot of folks would be absent from Tiki Central for a few days. I thought doing some Savage Renewal projects would be a good kick-off for that event, even if it ends up being Savage Renewal "Lite" compared to the last one.

I myself am not planning anything major for my project - I'm going to snap a few pictures of an item that hasn't been discussed much and hopefully get some audience participation to help fill in the gaps. And I certainly don't mind if people want to wait until this weekend or early next week either to get their projects together if they've got something more ambitious planned. I just thought it might be fun to get everyone focused on the roots of Tiki again this week prior to Oasis, (except for you folks in "Creating Tiki" who seem to be living "Savage Renewal" all year long.) I'm also planning to help the moderators schedule these "project" weeks more frequently, maybe every quarter. So if there are folks who feel they don't have the time to put into it this round, then I would encourage you to just bump up an old thread that you feel needs more discussion and save your killer project till next 3 or 4 months from now.

Again, Sorry if I put any perceived pressure on folks by starting this round of Savage Renewal so abruptly. I just wanted to have a little fun in the next week-and-a-half.

Pappy, I'm planning on finding something I can do quickly for this right now, and then later do something that requires more digging.
_________________Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., Th.D., D.F.S

Ok, so a quick question on how this is supposed to work. I already have my item picked out that I want to show and find out more information about. But it's an artifact from a place (That I haven't been able to find in Locating Tiki), so do I post in the General Section with a "Savage Renewal" tag, or do put Locating Tiki, or both?

Wow, two Savage Renewal posts over the weekend. I wanted to post them early, as they both relate to the Tiki Oasis VI later this week. This second post is a tour of potential tiki/polynesian pop architecture style apartment complexes in San Diego.